Maxim Behar's Blog, page 13

Maxim Behar signed a memorandum of cooperation with SPRING PR

Maxim Behar, CEO of M3 Communications Group, Inc. signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Armenian agency SPRING PR. The purpose of their work will be to support the business in Armenia and its development in foreign markets.

After the contract was signed, the PR expert and President of the World Communications Forum Association in Davos - Maxim Behar said that nowadays geographical borders are not an obstacle to the development of a business and he will be happy if he can help Armenian investors and businesses in Bulgaria.

The co-founder of SPRING PR agency - Tatevik Simonyan also expressed his joy at the signing of the memorandum and said that his cooperation with Maxim Behar dates back to 2016, when the Bulgarian PR expert accepted the invitation to attend a conference in Yerevan on: "Business, Communication and Digital World: Armenia2016", and later worked together at the awards "Communications for Future Davos 2017". At the end of his statement, Simonyan said that strengthening the partnership between the two agencies will have a positive impact on business development.

Maxim Behar participates in an online discussion of Export Hub Bulgaria

Maxim Behar took part in an online discussion organized by the Executive Agency for Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises Varna, on the occasion of their initiative Export Hub Bulgaria.

The aim of the initiative is to support the successful development of Bulgarian organisations on foreign markets through proper guidance and valuable advice. During the discussion, various options were discussed to implement the plan. The PR expert Maxim Behar, whose agency M3 Communications Group, Inc. is one of the founders of Export Hub, presented his ideas to other participants. He offered free marketing training once a week to all companies that want to enter foreign markets and develop their business there, and at the end of the discussion said he was extremely happy with the productive meeting that took place and very good news for small and medium business.

Maxim Behar Leads M3 College`s Online Event - ���Does the PR Business Need PR���

Maxim Behar, together with some of the best Bulgarian PR experts was part of an online event organized by M3 College. The discussion managed to gather nearly 100 people from the field of public communications, PR, marketing and advertising.

The CEO of M3 Communications Group, Inc. opened the event with words of thanks to the participants. ���The main purpose of this event is to send the right messages to people about what PR means. We are the ones who change this business and its public image���- added Maxim Behar.

During the discussion, the audience were able to ask their questions to the PR experts. Asked if the agencies would be involved in pro-bono projects given the emergency and limited finances, Behar said: "Pro-bono campaigns are part of our business and the image we build. If a person comes at this moment and does not have the resources, but we consider that his idea is useful for the society, we will do it!���

You can watch the whole event HERE.

Maxim Behar among judges of ICCO Digital Awards 2020

For the third year in a row, leading PR expert Maxim Behar will be part of the��judges��that will select the winners of the Digital Awards 2020. The awards are organized by the largest and most influential PR organization in the world - ICCO, whose former President is Maxim Behar.

After repeatedly chairing and serving on various PR awards in more than 20 countries around the world, this year the CEO of M3 Communications Group, Inc. will stand side by side with some of the biggest names in the world in the field of communications and journalism to highlight the most interesting PR and communication solutions during the Digital Awards 2020.

Maxim Behar: The PR business is for brave people

The PR expert Maxim Behar visited Bogdana and Simeon on BG Radio to answer five questions that the radio hosts had prepared for him.

-�������������� When will you regret it more? If you have a pair of sneakers in your wardrobe that you have never worn or if you have a tailcoat that you have never worn?

-�������������� Definitely the sneakers. Because if I put on my sneakers, it means that I will feel more comfortable and I will be very happy, plus I will have free time. The tailcoat ��� I can make with or without it. This is the slightest concern. Of course, I go to all sorts of places, I meet prime ministers, kings, queens, princesses and princes. But I can go there without a tailcoat. They may look at me slightly at an angle, but if I go to the park in a tailcoat, then I think people will say that I'm not good at sports at all. Sneakers are a very valuable for me.

-�������������� What do you prefer ��� to be immortal or fearless?

-�������������� Of course to be fearless. Because firstly you cannot be immortal and secondly - it is very important to be brave. My business is the business for brave people. In 2010 or 2011 I had a presentation in Davos and it was called: "The PR expert never gives up!". It's more kind of metaphor to show that we have to be super creativeand when you can't solve a case, you just have to be fearless. You don't have to worry about anything in this life. Not to mention that if you are fearless enough you will be immortal.

-�������������� To whom would you give your daughter for a wife? To the poet Theo or to the millionaire Miro?

-�������������� This is her decision. This is a question that for the first time I can't answer, because it's my daughter's decision, of course. She will decide.

-�������������� But what if she says: ���I like them both. You decide���?

-�������������� I will tell her: "My dear Ralitsa, you decide." I will not live with the millionaire or the poet, but my daughter. So she will decide. I was brought up like that, so you are, I am sure of that. Not to mention that BG Radio, my favorite radio, has such a listener profile that I don't believe it stumbles on "Poetry or Money". These are, after all, human relationships. How is it possible, I can't imagine a person being happy just because someone has money or because someone can write well. Happiness is such a complex matter. The most important thing is for my daughter Ralitsa to be happy.

-�������������� When was the last time you thought of the logic that everything passes?

-�������������� Not everything passes. There are things that remain. These are the memories, these are the wonderful experiences. If you mean that everything bad, that happens passes - no, it leaves a mark on you. In this sense, it is not past. Because you can forgot it at the moment, but sometimes after a while you remember. As we remembered how 15-16 years ago I was here with you and we had the same conversation. You remembered things we talked about then. I really don't know what exactly you put into these words, but not everything passes. It is very important to look at them positively or what remains to be positive. Something very bad may have happened, but there were 1% good memories.Let's remember this 1%. There really are a lot of pessimistic people. If there was even 1% bad in something, they will always remember that 1%. There is a very nice joke in which Moshe goes to visit Garabed and then goes home. Garabed calls him and says: "Moshe, there is a missing spoon, did you take it by accident? A golden spoon. ���He replied,��� No, how am I going to take it? ���He hangs up, time passes, Moshe calls Garabed to ask if they have found the spoon. Garabed replies, "What can I tell you, we found her, but the bad feeling remains." So, not everything passes. I will tell you a story, because in Bulgaria I can tell it. I had a certain PR vision for my book and my editor from Nebraska called me and said, "Mr. Behar, NO WAY! We cannot publish it. There are Jews and Armenians involved. Is this possible in Bulgaria? ���And I answered her:��� Yes, we are tolerant on this topic, we live together. ���She did not agree because she thought they would be offended. Here in the book, I tell this story between Jim and John. Jim calls John and back. This is because, especially in America, there is a great deal of caution not to offend anyone, to be politically correct. Here, you see, not everything passes, the bad feeling remains.

-�������������� What is your superpower?

-�������������� There is no superpower, there is energy, desire and a positive attitude towards everything. Of course, not all of us can deal with some problems, or when sometimes someone is rude to you - then you can't smile like a fool from morning to night and not react. On the contrary - I react to any manifestation of unprofessionalism, if someone is not precise. You know, in Bulgaria we lack three things - BGN 1,000 to the salary, one room in an apartment and one day to do our job. There are several characteristics in Bulgaria that I have registered over the years. One of them is that we all talk to TVs. I have not seen this anywhere else in the world. The other feature is the so-called. "90% complex". We do 90% of our job. It often happens to me that people come to me and say, "I am ready" and I say, "No, you are not. A job is done when it is 100%. When it's all done.���In fact, that's what I think is the superpower.

Listen to the full podcast��HERE.��

Maxim Behar: My business is for brave people

The PR expert Maxim Behar visited Bogdana and Simeon on BG Radio to answer five questions that the radio hosts had prepared for him.

-�������������� When will you regret it more? If you have a pair of sneakers in your wardrobe that you have never worn or if you have a tailcoat that you have never worn?

-�������������� Definitely the sneakers. Because if I put on my sneakers, it means that I will feel more comfortable and I will be very happy, plus I will have free time. The tailcoat ��� I can make with or without it. This is the slightest concern. Of course, I go to all sorts of places, I meet prime ministers, kings, queens, princesses and princes. But I can go there without a tailcoat. They may look at me slightly at an angle, but if I go to the park in a tailcoat, then I think people will say that I'm not good at sports at all. Sneakers are a very valuable for me.

-�������������� What do you prefer ��� to be immortal or fearless?

-�������������� Of course to be fearless. Because firstly you cannot be immortal and secondly - it is very important to be brave. My business is the business for brave people. In 2010 or 2011 I had a presentation in Davos and it was called: "The PR expert never gives up!". It's more kind of metaphor to show that we have to be super creativeand when you can't solve a case, you just have to be fearless. You don't have to worry about anything in this life. Not to mention that if you are fearless enough you will be immortal.

-�������������� To whom would you give your daughter for a wife? To the poet Theo or to the millionaire Miro?

-�������������� This is her decision. This is a question that for the first time I can't answer, because it's my daughter's decision, of course. She will decide.

-�������������� But what if she says: ���I like them both. You decide���?

-�������������� I will tell her: "My dear Ralitsa, you decide." I will not live with the millionaire or the poet, but my daughter. So she will decide. I was brought up like that, so you are, I am sure of that. Not to mention that BG Radio, my favorite radio, has such a listener profile that I don't believe it stumbles on "Poetry or Money". These are, after all, human relationships. How is it possible, I can't imagine a person being happy just because someone has money or because someone can write well. Happiness is such a complex matter. The most important thing is for my daughter Ralitsa to be happy.

-�������������� When was the last time you thought of the logic that everything passes?

-�������������� Not everything passes. There are things that remain. These are the memories, these are the wonderful experiences. If you mean that everything bad, that happens passes - no, it leaves a mark on you. In this sense, it is not past. Because you can forgot it at the moment, but sometimes after a while you remember. As we remembered how 15-16 years ago I was here with you and we had the same conversation. You remembered things we talked about then. I really don't know what exactly you put into these words, but not everything passes. It is very important to look at them positively or what remains to be positive. Something very bad may have happened, but there were 1% good memories.Let's remember this 1%. There really are a lot of pessimistic people. If there was even 1% bad in something, they will always remember that 1%. There is a very nice joke in which Moshe goes to visit Garabed and then goes home. Garabed calls him and says: "Moshe, there is a missing spoon, did you take it by accident? A golden spoon. ���He replied,��� No, how am I going to take it? ���He hangs up, time passes, Moshe calls Garabed to ask if they have found the spoon. Garabed replies, "What can I tell you, we found her, but the bad feeling remains." So, not everything passes. I will tell you a story, because in Bulgaria I can tell it. I had a certain PR vision for my book and my editor from Nebraska called me and said, "Mr. Behar, NO WAY! We cannot publish it. There are Jews and Armenians involved. Is this possible in Bulgaria? ���And I answered her:��� Yes, we are tolerant on this topic, we live together. ���She did not agree because she thought they would be offended. Here in the book, I tell this story between Jim and John. Jim calls John and back. This is because, especially in America, there is a great deal of caution not to offend anyone, to be politically correct. Here, you see, not everything passes, the bad feeling remains.

-�������������� What is your superpower?

-�������������� There is no superpower, there is energy, desire and a positive attitude towards everything. Of course, not all of us can deal with some problems, or when sometimes someone is rude to you - then you can't smile like a fool from morning to night and not react. On the contrary - I react to any manifestation of unprofessionalism, if someone is not precise. You know, in Bulgaria we lack three things - BGN 1,000 to the salary, one room in an apartment and one day to do our job. There are several characteristics in Bulgaria that I have registered over the years. One of them is that we all talk to TVs. I have not seen this anywhere else in the world. The other feature is the so-called. "90% complex". We do 90% of our job. It often happens to me that people come to me and say, "I am ready" and I say, "No, you are not. A job is done when it is 100%. When it's all done.���In fact, that's what I think is the superpower.

Listen to the full podcast��HERE.��

Maxim Behar for Bulgarian TV Show ���Na kafe���: Everything that happened today will be old tomorrow.

The PR expert, who was announced as "Best PR Specialist in Europe" at the prestigious PRWeek awards, stood in front of the camera of ���Na kafe��� to tell how the business changes during a pandemic and after it.

������ -������ I saw you were announced as as Best PR in Europe. How did this happen?

������ -������ PRWeek is the most influential media in the world, in our business. There are publications in many countries and I am extremely flattered that the American one annonced me as the best PR professional in Europe. I take it as a credit and as an assurance that we have yet to prove many, many more progress, because that is life, in fact. Everything that happened today will be old tomorrow. Everything that we have done today as a project, as creativity, as ideas, tomorrow someone else will have taken them and we must have new ones.

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������ -������ How is the PR world changing during the pandemic?

������ -������ The PR world started to change long before the pandemic, but now, in the last few months, it has undergone a really huge revolution, mainly due to the fact that we have started to communicate more and more online and solve more and more crises, especially in the last few months.

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������ -������ How often does a client think that he understands PR very well, even better than you, because he has watched something on TV?

������ -���� Less and less often. People came here to this office and said, ���Do something related to PR, but leave Facebook to my secretary because she understands a lot about Facebook.��� I leave the meeting because you can't divide all this communication of one company into different elements: ���I'll do this, you'll do that.��� It's like going to three dentists at the same time for the same problem. This means that this problem will never be solved. It is also very important how individuals, how social media users behave and work on their branding, express their opinion. I notice a growing tendency for all these social media users to think that they are the editors-in-chief of their media, and this is quite a risk. Everyone expresses an opinion without arguments, without anything, insults the state saying���I'm leaving, I can't live here.��� This creates a lot of tension, but I think in the next few years this problem will be solved, because everyone will actually understand the power of every word, every comma.

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������ -���� I saw here in your office ��there is an inscription that the bitterness of a bad result lasts longer than the sweetness of the low price. Do we have to go beyond our budget when we want to do a good job?

������ -������ I do not know a client who has a certain budget for his PR activities. There are usually some frames. Of course we have to get out of them when we have to solve a problem quickly, when we have to solve a crisis. What budgets are we talking about? You can have a budget of 100, but if you do not solve the crisis to lose 1000. Customers should know and we should all know that the cheap is really cheap. Our business is a crossroads between finance and creativity. However, you can pour a lot of money but if you do not have a good strategy, if you do not have a good project, if you do not have a good product then this money will be wasted.

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������ -������ Will you go to the Seychelles or will you postpone it for now because of the COVID-19?

������ -������ Yes. I'm just waiting for the Seychelles to open their borders and I'll visit them immediately. I have nothing to worry about for the Seychelles. No one is currently infected with COVID-19. We had 11 people, 11 were cured. They were only foreigners. There you stand on the beach and everything is clean and everything is clear. The country is still closed, the moment they open the borders I will send you photos from there.

��

You can find the whole video��HERE.

Maxim Behar for "Manager" Magazine: You Can Be Infinitely Brave, But You Must Have Knowledge

After being announced as "Best PR Professional in Europe" at this year's official ceremony of PR Week, the Bulgarian PR expert spoke to "Manager" Magazine about the changes that have taken place in business since the pandemic and what lessons we have learned since then.

- What will be the sustainable changes in the field of communications after the outbreak of the pandemic?
- Changes in our business are already happening at the speed of light. That is why I would be quite cautious with the word "sustainable". The changes are certainly aimed at even more professional reactions in crisis management, as well as having creative ideas for the preservation and development of brands. And this is logical. The pandemic has caused many unknown crises in a large number of companies - declining consumption, telecommuting, an even greater boom in online commerce and communications. But if we talk about sustainable elements in communications, I am sure that there will always be three that will be more important than anything else in the world - ethics, honesty and full transparency.

- What are the communication lessons that COVID-19 helped us learn?
- Five or six years ago, at a congress of the World PR Organization ICCO, I predicted that about 30% of the business of public communications will be able to be done remotely. But now going back to these days, I actually remember that I didn't believe in that prediction too much. Well, it happened faster. And this is the first important change - the business is exported remotely. It can be from the kitchen at home or from Starbucks, it doesn't matter, it's important to have a good and fast mobile connection and to feel at ease. The second big lesson is that what we used to call "event business" will disappear in its current form and in a year or two much of it will also be online.

- Is it time for new messages? Is there room for more courage in the field?
- Our business has always required a lot of creativity, exceptional preparation and quick solutions. There is room for boundless courage, but it must be backed up by perfect and constant preparation. Every day early in the morning or late in the evening I read at least 2-3 articles with information about what happened in the world and every day I find something new and unique. In the PR business, you can be infinitely brave, but you must have knowledge.

- You have received exceptional recognition for your work from PRWeek. What motivates and inspires you lately in a professional context?
- I am motivated by the fact that I have a wonderful professional team, people with ideas, knowledgeable, dedicated. I have been in this business for over 25 years, I have probably received all possible world awards, but I know that what happened today will not be relevant tomorrow. That's it, every day you have to be different, innovative and, as you say, inspired.

Maxim Behar in front of "Manager" Magazine: You Can Be Infinitely Brave, But You Must Have Knowledge

After being announced as "Best PR Professional in Europe" at this year's official ceremony of PR Week, the Bulgarian PR expert spoke to "Manager" Magazine about the changes that have taken place in business since the pandemic and what lessons we have learned since then.

- What will be the sustainable changes in the field of communications after the outbreak of the pandemic?
- Changes in our business are already happening at the speed of light. That is why I would be quite cautious with the word "sustainable". The changes are certainly aimed at even more professional reactions in crisis management, as well as having creative ideas for the preservation and development of brands. And this is logical. The pandemic has caused many unknown crises in a large number of companies - declining consumption, telecommuting, an even greater boom in online commerce and communications. But if we talk about sustainable elements in communications, I am sure that there will always be three that will be more important than anything else in the world - ethics, honesty and full transparency.

- What are the communication lessons that COVID-19 helped us learn?
- Five or six years ago, at a congress of the World PR Organization ICCO, I predicted that about 30% of the business of public communications will be able to be done remotely. But now going back to these days, I actually remember that I didn't believe in that prediction too much. Well, it happened faster. And this is the first important change - the business is exported remotely. It can be from the kitchen at home or from Starbucks, it doesn't matter, it's important to have a good and fast mobile connection and to feel at ease. The second big lesson is that what we used to call "event business" will disappear in its current form and in a year or two much of it will also be online.

- Is it time for new messages? Is there room for more courage in the field?
- Our business has always required a lot of creativity, exceptional preparation and quick solutions. There is room for boundless courage, but it must be backed up by perfect and constant preparation. Every day early in the morning or late in the evening I read at least 2-3 articles with information about what happened in the world and every day I find something new and unique. In the PR business, you can be infinitely brave, but you must have knowledge.

- You have received exceptional recognition for your work from PRWeek. What motivates and inspires you lately in a professional context?
- I am motivated by the fact that I have a wonderful professional team, people with ideas, knowledgeable, dedicated. I have been in this business for over 25 years, I have probably received all possible world awards, but I know that what happened today will not be relevant tomorrow. That's it, every day you have to be different, innovative and, as you say, inspired.

Maxim Behar Participated in the Online Discussion ICCO Speaker Series

Maxim Behar took part in the online event of the International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO) on the topic of how to rebuild brands after the crisis, a consequence of the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The online forum was attended by the members of the organization and a number of professionals from the communications sector.

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During the online event, the disastrous economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis on all industries, including the communications sector, were discussed. At the same time, the crisis has prompted most companies to offer new services in order to stand out in the market, and most of them are mostly virtual. The main task of PR experts during the crisis is to prepare strategic plans to deal with the situation.

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Nitin Mantri, President of ICCO and Group CEO of Avian WE, as a special speaker shared his views on the role of PR in helping brands recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. During the discussion, he added that the crisis will make the PR business more proactive than before.